


Life After Death

by SlytherinLyn



Category: Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood & Manga
Genre: Canon Compliant, Gen, Probably a bit OOC for Edward, i think
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-11
Updated: 2019-04-11
Packaged: 2020-01-11 08:24:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 654
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18426744
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SlytherinLyn/pseuds/SlytherinLyn
Summary: Ed doesn’t know quite how to tell Mustang the horrible things that come with performing human transmutation don’t stop at losing your sight or your organs or your legs or your body.





	Life After Death

**Author's Note:**

> Edward is 17 in this, and it takes place about a year after the promised day.

Ed doesn’t know quite how to tell Mustang the horrible things that come with performing human transmutation don’t stop at losing your sight or your organs or your legs or your body.  


Ed does know that Mustang has the information somewhere in his brain and just doesn’t know it, and he also knows that it’s much easier to hear from someone else.  


So he takes him to a bar.  


It’s not as elegant as Madame Christmas’s bar is, but it is on the nicer side. Ed’s not technically of legal age yet, just a year shy, but he the owner of the bar owes him a favor and Ed knows Mustang is going to need a drink by the end of their conversation.  


Ed lets the conversation flow easily and they talk of things that have happened since the Promised Day, how Al was recovering well, how Riza had returned to active duty a few months ago. He can tell Mustang is suspicious of the situation but as time passes and glasses empty he softens up a little.  
And then the conversation drifts to Hughes.  


“If only Maes could be here to see this,” Mustang says wistfully as he takes another drink, “He figured it all out before anyone else. He deserved to see the world get saved.”  


“Yeah,” Ed agrees, “He was a good man.”  


“I guess we’ll just have to catch him up in the afterlife, won’t we Fullmetall?”  


And then Ed knows that this news won’t be any easier to hear no matter when he says it, so he might as well take the opportunity presented.  


“I’m sure the others will have fun telling all about how we saved the world,” Ed says, and downs the rest of his nearly full drink in one go. Mustang looks like he’s about to say something before Ed cuts him off, “Too bad we won’t be there to help.”  


“Come on Edward, it’s not like we’re going to live forever.”  


Ed pulls Mustang’s drink towards himself a little, preventing him from getting that next sip because right now Mustang is a perfect mix of drunk enough to accept it and sober enough to remember it and Ed needs to keep him there.  


“You’re right, we won’t. But listen to me. I’m going to give you a choice. There’s something else that comes with performing human transmutation, and someday, Truth will tell you himself. But I’m giving you the choice to hear it from him,” Ed looks Mustang right in the eyes, “Or to hear it from me. This is a choice I didn’t have, Al, Teacher didn’t have, but it’s one I’m offering to you, because this is something you’ll want to hear from a friend surrounded by alcohol.”  


“What are you talking about Ed-”  


“Roy.” And that stops Mustang dead in his tracks, because Ed only calls him Roy in delicate situations and Roy had only just stopped thinking that this was one, “Your choice is to live your life freely until Truth decides to tell you, or to let me tell you right here, right now.”  


“Which one’s the better option?” Mustang feels almost sober now, and a part of him wishes he had drunk a bit more before Ed had taken his drink captive.  


“Honestly? Living your life for a while without knowing, that would be nice. You could have a chance at time free of pain.”  


Ed knows which option Mustang will choose. He knows that despite all of the horrors that will come with it, he will choose-  


“I want you to tell me.”  


Ed doesn’t ask if he’s sure, doesn’t ask if he’s ready, he just slides Mustang’s drink back over.  


“When we die, we won’t go to the afterlife. We won’t meet up with Hughes to tell him our glory stories, we won’t enjoy life after death. We gave up that right the second we saw white.”

**Author's Note:**

> I've just had this headcanon that one of the things you give up in human transmutation, not necessarily to Truth but to the transmutation itself, is your right to go to the afterlife after you die and I just had to write it out.


End file.
